Terence Koh
(Canadian/Chinese, born 1977)

Terence Koh (Chinese, b.1977) is an artist previously working under the pseudonym “asianpunkboy.” His body of work extends from ‘zines and handmade books to sculpture, Performance Art, and installation pieces. Koh’s art, which incorporates punk, queer, and even pornographic aesthetic characteristics, has been described as part of the New Gothic Art movement. In 2003, the art collector Javier Peres, who had recently started the Peres Projects gallery in Los Angeles, invited Koh to feature his work at the gallery’s inaugural show. Peres now represents Koh’s work in Berlin, Germany, and Los Angeles. At Art Basel, Switzerland, in 2006, Koh’s work included a series of glass cases containing gold-encrusted clods, described as the artist’s excrement, which reportedly sold in total for close to $500,000. Shortly thereafter, in January 2007, the Whitney Museum dedicated its ground-floor gallery to a solo exhibit of Koh’s work. More recently, in March 2011, the Mary Boone Gallery hosted Koh’s solo exhibit-performance piece nothingtoodoo, which featured the artist circling ceaselessly around an 8-foot-high pile of salt while wearing a white, pajama-like suit. The seemingly monastic elements of this particular exhibit caused some art critics to wonder if it served as a type of penance for some of Koh’s aggressively audacious earlier works. Koh attended the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver. He currently lives and works in New York.